New growth was pushing through the ashes of destruction at a prodigious rate, slowing our progress east. Saplings had burst from the pitted asphalt, glowing unnaturally in my eyesight as they soaked up the motes released by the decaying road. I uprooted one that was particularly eye-catching, with coppery coloured bark and pulsating with brilliant red motes. [1]

As we walked along the road, I trimmed it into a serviceable walking stick, watching as motes streamed from the blood-red sap that oozed from where I trimmed it with my knife. Pressing the red mana stones I had collected into the sticky wounds, I ran my aura through the still living wood and encouraged it to heal. Bark grew over the raw-cut ends and scabbed over the mana stones, leaving the thumbnail sized stones securely embedded.

“Hey Nick,” I said, tossing it to him. “Whatcha think about this?”

He snatched the stave from the air and examined it with a critical eye. “Feels heavy enough, I suppose. Not sure how it’ll hold up in a fight.”

“Nothing else?” I asked, disappointed.

“What were you expecting?” He said.

“I dunno, I figured since we’re wizards we’d need a staff, you know? And since you have a red core and it’s filled with red motes, I was hoping…”

Silver threads spun out from Nick’s hand, wrapping around the staff, sinking into it. He stopped in the middle of the road, staring at the wood in fascination. As I watched, red motes flowed from him into the staff, then flowed back.

“It’s like a battery,” He grinned. His eyes went unfocused for a moment. “But it’s really lossy. I think maybe half of what I transferred was lost during transition. Where’d you stash that silver?”

I fished the silver bars out of Sparky’s saddlebag and handed them to him. One bar flowed over the top and another over the bottom, capping the ends of the staff. A third spun into thread and wrapped around the staff in a simple pattern, connecting the two caps. He handed the remaining bars to me and frowned at his sparkly new toy.

“What’s the matter?” I said.

“I know that silver and gold conduct magic better than other elements because they are much easier to work with,” He explained. “So I was hoping that the silver would make it easier to use. But it didn’t.”

“Lemme see it for a minute,” I said, holding out my hand. He passed it over and I ran my aura through it. He was right, silver was an excellent conductor and my aura ran down it like electricity through a wire. The bark on the staff was a barrier though. You had to struggle to push through it. “Take off the caps and let me cut away the bark,” I said.

A few minutes later I finished, exposing the ends of the staff, letting the red sap flow. Nick adjusted the caps so they were snug against the bare wood and in contact with the sticky substance. “Much better!” He declared, cycling mana from one arm through the staff and into his other arm, back to his core, and around again. “Hardly any loss at all.”

“What about the stones?” I asked. “I just shoved them in there because they were red.”

He shrugged. “If they’re doing anything, I can’t tell.”

“Well, let me know if you figure anything out,”

“Will do.”

Alyiah, Thom’s fiancee, came running up with her hands full of the branches I had cut off and discarded. “I was listening to what you were talking about,” she said, breathless. “What else do you see? Can you see other stuff?”

“Lots of stuff,” I admitted. “Not sure what’s useful though. The only reason I made that staff is because it was full of red mana and the right shape to be a staff.” [2]

“It’s not fair,” she pouted. “I need your eyes.”

“Well, before you get all grabby with my eyeballs, why don’t I point out anything unusual I see?” I said.

“Fine.”

“Also, I have no idea what that sap will do if it gets on you. It could be toxic.”

She examined her hands for sap. “I’ll put these away for later,” she said, depositing them on Miguel’s travois.

The carts of canned goods and other sundry items salvaged from the store rattled loudly on the pitted asphalt as we marched along. Empty carts had also been gathered in anticipation of filling them whenever opportunity arose.

“Ah! Got it!” Nick exclaimed, holding the staff up. I could see mana swirling around it in the overcast light.

“Whatcha got?”

“I can pull in ambient mana using the cores in the staff,” He said. “It’s not much, but I could probably fill it in a couple hours if I was standing still. I’m pretty sure it’s doing it automatically tho and should refill itself in less than a day.”

“Well that’s handy,” I said. “How much do you think it will hold?”

“I have no idea,” he said. “Everything I got and then some. I can feel the ‘size’ of it, but I have no idea what kind of numbers we’re talking about.”

“Hrmph. We need to get the scientific method on this stuff and get some numbers working,” I grumped. “Okay, well, I’ll keep an eye out for other suitable candidates. Let’s go meet the people.”

“Meet the people?”

“Yeah. Remember our talk about leadership? We need to be seen and known. These people need to trust us.”

“Why?” He said, a scowl flitting across his face before he erased it.

“Because if we tell them to run or hide or get to cover in a muddy ditch, they need to trust us enough to do it without question. Right now the majority of these people are following Gideon because they trust him. We need that same trust since we’re defending them.”

“Look, I have no desire to be king or whatever,” Nick said to me in a low voice. “I don’t want that kind of responsibility.”

“And neither do I,” I sighed. “Fine. Just support me until things change. We need at least 10,000 people to avoid extinction, and we need to organise society along Dunbar’s number to avoid conflicts. I’ll be the bad guy if I must, but I need the support of the family. I can’t do this alone. Family comes first.”

Nick mulled on that for a few minutes before speaking. “Okay, family first, that’s a no brainer. What’s Dunbar’s number?”

“It’s the maximum number of people you can care about before they stop being people and turn into randos who don’t matter,” I explained. “The human brain seems to be wired for about five really close friends, fifteen good friends, and 150 acquaintances before we stop caring.”

“That doesn’t sound right,” He said.

“It’s got some science backing it, so while it may not be exact, it’s a good approximation. Everything we organise should be based around a maximum of 150 people.”

“Jeebus, that sounds so tribal,” Nick complained.

“List off everyone you really care about, friend, family, whoever,” I countered.

He frowned. “Okay. Maybe you have a point. I can’t think of more than 15 people I really care about.”

We fell back along the lines, taking the time to introduce ourselves again and chat with the survivors. I noticed two pregnant women in the group, one was maybe six or seven months along, and one who was heavily pregnant. A few young children were being pushed in carts by tired parents or guardians. We got the two pregnant women on the horses so they could rest a bit and entertained the children with small magic tricks while we travelled.

The attack came out of nowhere. One moment we’re marching through an increasingly bitter north wind complaining about the cold, and the next four score green humanoids are rushing us with pointy sticks and crude weapons.

“Goblins!” [3] Tomas yelled, freeing his metal baseball bat. He jumped into the irregular line of attackers and started swinging. The sound of aluminium on flesh and bone rang in the air. Thom followed him after a long moment, his daggers flashing as he moved almost faster than the eye could follow.

Chaos erupted among the survivors. Screaming, they fled from the attack abandoning carts filled with their possessions and children.

“Watch the other side of the road!” I yelled, fearing that we were being driven into a pincer. Flinging out a mental command to Sassy, I told her to get jiggy on goblin ass. She flickered into existence on one edge of the group attempting to flank us and tore into them, her whiskers lashing out to taser any that dared to get close.

Mercy was flinging snowballs or ice balls or something at the green figures attempting to flank our rear, causing them to duck and dodge, slowing their rush. A rush of mana filled my vision as Astrid summoned Sassy II and commanded it to defend. Her core dimmed percipitiously with the action. Jake dove down to harass the attackers.

“Check the other side! Other Side!” I yelled, flinging out my aura. I could sense the rabid dark red auras of our attackers, but there was nothing but yellow and green from the other side. Rabbits? Some other small critter?

Goblins burst from the trees on the north side of the road, attacking those who sought to retreat from the southward attack. Crude fire-hardened spears stabbed into the pilgrims, dropping them or forcing them back. I filled my tentacles with nails from the satchels on the horses, passing a command for them to protect the pregnant women if possible.

Launching myself into the attackers on the north side, I released the nails in a double shotgun blast, knocking a half dozen to the ground. Gripping my bowie knife in one hand, I landed in the midst of the survivors, my arm flashing out to slash throats and stab chests as they rose from the ground. Two down, three, one staggered to his feet behind me and I lashed out with a pseudopod from my foot, smashing him into the trees three yards away.

I saw Nick raise his new staff, drawing on the red mana inside, converting it into intent. A two meter wall raised on the south side, thirty meters long, slowing the attackers, forcing them to climb over or go around. Slamming the staff on the ground, he raised a dozen spikes of earth, impaling several attackers before two spears caught him in the gut, driving him to the ground.

Screaming a mental command to my bonded, I demanded that they protect my firstborn. Sparky and Miguel wheeled around, ignoring the goblins attacking them to rush and aid Nicholas. Sassy materialised behind the goblins, lashing out with her whiskers, causing his attackers to fall twitching to the ground.

Thom took a spear to the shoulder defending the pilgrims. Tomas took one in the back. Moonie bounded in from the east, savaging one goblin before leaping at another. Sassy II was impaled by four spears and dematerialised into a stream of silver motes that streamed back to the stone in Astrid’s hand. Jake scratched at the eyes of a goblin before he was knocked to the ground and stomped on, silvery motes flowing back to his summoner.

I lashed out with my tentacles, sweeping the diminutive green attackers off their feet, double-jumping to the back of the convoy to defend Astrid, Paige, and the other pilgrims. I slashed with my knife, yanking spears from their hands with my aura, driving them back. Whaling on them like a madman, I snatched up anything in reach of my tentacles and beat on the little green bastards.

Tomas waded through the green horde, smashing indiscriminately, the hollow ting-Ting of his bat ringing in the air as blood stained his shirt. Other defenders faced against the sharpened spears of their opponents, locked in a grim dance of death.

Doug pressed a finger against his temple, a silvery thread linking him to another goblin. It spun around and began attacking its companions mercilessly, impaling them with its spear. Another thread lashed out, targeting another goblin and the scene repeated itself, chaos erupting in their ranks.

The pilgrims huddled in the middle of the asphalt road, surrounded on all sides as we dealt with the aggressive green attackers. Then, suddenly, it was over. No horn sounded, no cry was raised, but the goblins turned and fled into the woods, leaving us to pick up the pieces.

“TRIAGE! Triage, Triage!” I yelled. “Gideon, come to me. Wounded to me. Defenders, set up a perimeter and keep watch. Someone get Nick over here right now!”

I flung a command out to Sassy to eliminate any wounded goblins and return when she was done.

Nick was dragged over, bleeding from a dozen wounds puncturing his gut and chest. One had gouged his left eye, leaving a bloody gash on his face. I pressed my hands to his shoulders, pouring in silvery motes, commanding, demanding, that his body repair itself. Lacerated spleen, punctured liver, multiple intestinal wounds, they all soaked in the silver motes and knitted themselves together. No matter how much I poured into healing the wound on his face, the scar remained. My firstborn son took a deep breath and opened his eyes, one a milky white with no iris or pupil. “You have no idea how bad I feel,” he said, raising a hand to his head.

“Write it down and ask me later,” I said, giving him a half-smile.

“Ugh. Just like grade school. Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously,” I grinned, then yelled “Bring me the fresh corpses!”

Goblins were dragged over and I drained them, converting them into motes, essence that spun around my core, feeding my hunger.

I coordinated with Gideon to heal the wounded. Towards the end I was pushing unfiltered mana into the wounded, vaguely suggesting that it be used for healing wounds.

Several pilgrims were lost in the attack, but over sixty goblins were defeated. Nearly half of the pilgrims had sustained some sort of injury. A perimeter was set while we worked, the guards jumpy and on edge. Everyone else was healed, leaving Gideon exhausted, flat on the asphalt. I could use a nap. A long nap. I rose and stood on shaky knees before those gathered.

“This is our new world, in case you had any doubts,” I said. “It will eat us alive. We need to gather together; one mind, one purpose, one goal - the human race must survive. This is our home, and everyone else can fuck right off.”

A hundred faces met mine. Some fearful, some tearful, but most were filled with grim determination. Those were the ones I needed. Those would be my foundation.

1. Quercus falcata Novis. (Fire Oak) A mutant of the Spanish oak. The sap is a useful alchemical ingredient that stores red mana. The wood is useful for making staves and wands that create Telekinesis/Evocation effects. Quick growing, reaches maturity in five years, full growth in twenty, with a lifespan measured in centuries. Ancient trees have been reported to defend themselves by swinging their branches or using other forms of telekinesis.

2. Wands, Staves, and Rods fall into two major categories, Living and Dead.

A living staff has been healed and is sapwood that is technically alive. Sap still flows through it and is the active medium for magic. A living staff is primarily used as a battery and can recharge itself over time. The recharge time can be enhanced with properly attuned cores.

A six foot living staff can store over 6000 mana and with one grade F core, will regenerate over 100 mana per hour (depending on environmental mana density)

A dead staff is dried and cured heartwood, the wood itself is the active medium and is primarily used to amplify the effects of magic passed through it. A six foot Fire Oak staff will amply the effect of Evocation/Telekinesis spells by up to six times. Each class F core will lower the required mana by 10.

3. Goblin (Homo sapiens Cobolorum). Threat level: Low as individuals, Medium in groups. Tribal groups of about 100 per Hobgoblin present, up to 1000 per goblin Shaman. Small bipedal life forms with large light blue eyes and green skin of varying hues. They possess sharp claws and teeth, and intelligence on the level of a 13 year old human. While feral adults are apparently psychopathic, goblin infants raised by humans and treated with respect are loyal, docile, and make excellent workers. Goblins are a byproduct of black mana corrupting human children.

Copyright © 2022, Conteur. All Rights Reserved.

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